South Windsor Woman Gets 5 Years In Prison For Fraudulent Scheme

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A South Windsor resident was sentenced in federal court Thursday to five years imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and fraud offenses related to a scheme through which individuals seeking immigration services were defrauded.

Khatija Khan, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill. She is free on bond and is required to report to prison Dec. 14, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Khan and her husband, Babar Khan, operated Jllas Corp. and Eimaan LLC, which were created to provide services to clients involved in proceedings with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). From 2015 to 2020, the Khans recruited clients who sought some form of immigration status, relief or benefit. Many of these clients were aliens residing in the U.S. without legal status and had limited education, a limited ability to understand English, and little to no knowledge of the documents that the Khans were filing with USCIS on their behalf, Avery said.

Khatija Khan represented herself as an attorney with a background in immigration matters, even though she was not an attorney. The Khans prepared petitions and applications for their clients that contained information they knew to be false. They also fabricated false documents to support their clients’ applications with USCIS without their clients’ knowledge. They then mailed, or caused to be mailed, these fraudulent applications and documents to USCIS, where they were received and made part of the official Alien file of each respective client, Avery said.

Many of the Khans’ clients received no relief from USCIS despite paying the Khans significant amounts of money. To generate fees from clients, Khatija Khan filed applications with USCIS even when the submissions lacked merit or a legitimate basis, Avery said.

The couple was arrested Dec. 19, 2019. After her arrest, Khatija Khan continued to defraud multiple clients, according to Avery.

Victims identified to date have lost at least $326,212 as a result of this scheme. Underhill ordered Khatija Kahn to pay full restitution, Avery said.

She pleaded guilty on Nov. 19, 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of mail fraud. On Feb. 28, 2022, Babar Khan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of making and subscribing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, Avery said.